Apparatus for working garbage and refuse of towns



G. BECCARI.

APPARATUS FOR WORKING GARBAGE AND REFUSE 0F TOWNS.

APPLICATION FILED mm. 2|. 19m.

1 ,329, 1 O5 Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

Hanan/I41 M MM WM ATTY.

G. BECCARI.

APPARATUS FOR WORKING GARBAGE AND REFUSE 0F TOWNS.

APFLIEATION FILED MAR. 2!, H16.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GIUSEIPE BECCABI, OF FLORENCE, ITALY.

Specification of Lotte" Patent.

Patented Jan. 2'7, 1920- Applloatlon flied March 21, 1818. Berlal No. 85,567.

To all whom it may concern.-

lhit known that l, (lli'srzrri-z Bureau doctor, subject of the King of Italy, residing at Florence, lhdy, lun'o invented new and useful lni movements in Apparatus for \Vorkin r herbage and ltvfusc of Towns, of which the followin is a specification.

The invention re ates to a process of working garbage and refuse of towns. The object of the invention is to establish a succession of steps, whereby the refuse of towns will be deprived of dangerous micro-organisms, of stlnking gases and of such chemicals as are very useful in agriculture.

A further object of the invention is to use the cleaned mass as burning material, by previously com osing the same into cakes in combination with adhesive and burning material.

With these objects in view, the invention is necessarily connected to a form of apparatus, and, therefore, it will be understood with reference to the annexed drawings in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of part of the apparatus;

ig. 2 is a. vertical section on line A-B of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through part of the apparatus;

Fi 4 represents a small tower or chimney or the top of the main apparatus in vertical section; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of part of one of the horizontal perforated diaphragms and one of the vertical plates associated therewith, the same being shown in perspective and broken away.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, it will be observed that the apparatus consists primarily of. a rather igh buildin or tower of masonry havin a number of fermentation chambers a: of convenient shape and dimensions formed therein. At the bottom of each chamber, an inclined rating a is provided and has a sub-passage which serves for the discharge of the fermented substances and permits access to the bottom of the chamber for the purpose of superintending the working of the apparatus.

In one of the exterior walls of the tower, a main dischar 'ng door a and other smaller doors 0' for o servation and examination purposes are provided.

Air condults extend verticallyfrom the bottom to the top of each chamber, of said conduits there are shown five in each chamber, i. r'., the conduits e at the corners and airipe i at the center of the chamber.

lunch conduit c has openings 9 at different heights to discharge air into the chamber. the pipe 1' is preferably provided with a plurality of dischar purpose. The air enters the conduits through their lower end. Close under the ceiling of each chamber there are arranged heat-collectors 'h, referabl in the form of serpentine pi es filled wit water in order to utilize the eat produced by fermentation, which heat may serve both to dry the products already worked and for other pur oses, such as to provide hot water for aths, lavatories, steam-boilers, or the like.

At the upper end of each chamber, there is provided a water-closing trap-door l which permits the introduction of the refuse, the lower part of the chamber having, as has already been pointed out a discharging door 0. Near the deck of the covering of the chamber horizontal metal tubes 'm are placed and constitute radiators or condensers of the aqueous vapor, in order to bring about a kind of self-watering of the fermented mass.

The several fermentation chambers, which are connected in series, may be provided individually, at their tops, as shown in Fig. 4, with small towers or chimneys for the fixation of the gaseous ammoniacal compounds evolved by fermentation.

These small tower may be of varied structure and dimensions. Fig. 4 simply represents an example thereof. As will be seen, each small tower has its lower part in communication with the empt space of the underlying chamber through t e medium of the upwardly rojecting conduits n. In its interior, eac small tower is provided with horizontal, perforated diaphragms 0, through which pass plates which form drip-plates for liquids which condense above, so that the may dri down from diaphragm to diap ragm. T is feature of the construction is shown clearl in Fig. 5.

In addition to this, the diap ragms are provided with staggered holes g, which will impart to the seous current a se entine course, as is in icated by the arrows m Fig. 4 of the drawin The fermentatlon chambers of plants employed for purposes of ag iculture and for ging holes for the same towns and places Where the rice of land is moderate may be greatly rec need in depth, as compared with those shown in the annexed drawings, whereas the ground-plan of the chambers should be more extensive in area. Such chambers will be supplied with gratings, almost flush with the ground, but the will not be provided with sub-passages, an the discharge will be effected through the doors.

Having thus described the fermentation chambers, the manner of proceedin in order to obtain the desired economic an hygienic results will now be specified.

lhe manure or refuse from the town is conveyedi by means of a hand-cart, wheelbarrow, ift, or any other suitable means, onto the roof of the tower, WhlCll may be so arranged as to form a platform. After the trap-doors of the chambers have been opened, the refuse is introduced into the em ty spaces of said chambers and s r1nkled \viti water or sewage, after having een deposited in layers, and it may be strewn with alkaline powders, or such as are both alkaline and earthy (ashes, carbonate of sodium, carbonate of calcium, etc.) in order to afford the bases for nitrification. After the introduction of these substances the chambers are closed.

Owing to the air which has access to it from underneath the rating and from the conduits and small c annels, the manure or rubbish introduced begins to ferment. Very soon the temperature of the mass contained in this space, which though closed is still accessible to air, rises to between 60 and centigrade. This temperature is the most favorable to the development of the micro-organisms apt to cause the transformation of the nitrogenous and hydrocarbonaceous substances, while, at this temperature, the bacteria of denitrification, the typhoid bacillus, the vibrio of Asiatic cholera. the streptococcus, the staphylococcus pyogenes and likewise the di lococcus of neumonia, and the bacilli of diphtheria, of influenza, of tetanus, etc., do not live in a moist and steamy environment.

The degree of moisture of the mass may easily be re lated by means of the waterings efl'ecte during the first twenty days of fermentation with pumps or ordinary watering utensils. In the chambers the fermentation is made "to proceed regularly and uniformly throughout, thus im 'artmg homogeneity to .the entire mass, an after forty or fifty days, at the latest, the fermentation is comp etc.

In order that the volatile ammoniacal compounds produced during these processes of oxidation may not pass off into the air and contaminate it, and to obviate losses of combined nitrogen, they are made to pass first of all into the sma l t wer or serpentine chimney already described (Fig. 4) on their way these ases pass over the diaphra ms 0 and over he plates etc., upon whici are located ubstances w iich react in connection with the ammoniacal gases. These substances are sulfate of iron, superphosphates, plaster moistened with solutions of sulfuric or hydrochloric acid or any compound suitable for roducing the salification of, or giving sta )ility to, the carbonate and sulfid of ammonia produced bythe fermentin mass. Vegetable earth may also be placer in the small tower. In this case the ammoniacal nitrogen is fixed to the bases contained in the earth by the bacteria of nitrification.

The fermented matter may be used directly for manure in agriculture and may likewise be employed for fuel in substitution.

for cakes of peat, li ite, etc. In this case, before being forms into cakes, it should be sifted and washed in tanks containin water. After this, it should be dried an mixed with coal-dust and grit and then pressed into cakes, which, when d are used for fuel. From the concentra rinsiriiigs and from the earthy substances drawn 0 the nitroazotic substances which may be employed in agriculture or in various industries, may be extracted.

Havin thus described the invention, what it 1s desired to claim and to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. A manure and refuse fermentation a paratus comprisin a building structure avin a chamber t erein for the reception of the material to be subjected to fermentation, and vertical air conduits rising from the bottom part of the chamber along the vertical walls thereof, and having discharge openings communicating with the chamber.

2. A manure and refuse fermentation apparatus comprising a buildin structure aving a chamber therein for t e reception of the material to be subjected to fermentation, vertical air conduits rising from the bottom part of the chamber along the sides of the latter and having discharge openings at .various points.

3. A manure and refuse fermentation apparatus comprisin a buildin structure aving a chamber t erein for t e reception of the material to be subjected to fermentation, a tower surmounting the said structure and being in communication with the top of the chamber, horizontal diaphragms positioned in the said tower and adapted to support substances for the fixation of the gaseous products from the chamber passing through the tower, and depending drip plates supported by each diaphragm.

4. A manure and refuse fermentation apparatus comprising a building structure iaving a chamber therein for the reception of the material to be subjected to fermentation, and a radiator formed by a series of tubes disposed in the top part of the chamber and adapted to have comparatively cold fluid pass therethrough.

5. An apparatus for working arbage and refuse of towns, comprising a c osed chamber to receive said material, a charging door at the top and a discharging door near the bottom of said chamber, a gratin at the floor of said chamber for access 0 air, air pipes extending vertically throughout said chamber, openings in said pipes to admit air at different levels of said chamber, and inspection and controlling openings at different levels of the walls of said chamber.

6. An apparatus for working garbage and refuse of towns, comprising a closed chamher to receive said material, a charging door at the to and a discharging door at the bottom 0? said chamber, a gratin at the floor of said chamber for access 0 air, in spection and working holes at difl'erent levels in the walls of said chamber, and serpentine water-pipes arranged at the top of said chamber.

7. An apparatus for working garbage and refuse of towns, comprising a closed chamher to receive said material, a charging door at the top and a discharging door near the bottom of said chamber, a grating at the bottom of said chamber for access of air, a tower at the top of said chamber with staggered compartments supporting a substance to receive and fix ammonia, openings at the bottom of said tower setting its interior in communication with said chamber, and a chimney-piece at the top of said tower to discharge worked gases into the open air.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Dorr. GIUSEPPE BECCARI.

Witnesses:

BENNO N. JANNUCA, CHARLES L. BonooNEz. 

